Wrap-Up – The Cavaliers offensive machine that came into Sunday’s game averaging over 120 points over the last three games might not have been hitting on all cylinders. But even on a tough night, they still have the force of nature that is LeBron James – and the four-time MVP was in rare form in Philly – erupting for 23 second-half points and willing the Wine and Gold to its seventh straight win, a 95-85 slugfest at the Wells Fargo Center.
James was essentially un-guardable, netting 37 points in 37 minutes of action – going 15-for-22 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from long-distance. As usual, he stuffed the stat sheet – adding a team-high nine assists to go with seven boards and a pair of steals.
The Cavaliers needed James’ big effort on Sunday against a scrappy Sixers team that’s found new life with the addition of guard Ish Smith.
Early in the second quarter, Cleveland ran its lead to nine – 29-20 – and it looked like they might blast the young Sixers as they had in three previous meetings this season. But Brett Brown’s squad closed the first half on a 9-2 run and trailed by only a point heading into the locker room.
The Sixers stayed in contact with the Cavs until early in the fourth quarter, but it was too much LeBron for Philly in the final period, with James notching 12 of his season-high-tying 37 in the fourth.
Nearly lost in James’ explosive performance was Kevin Love’s outstanding blue-collar effort – earning his 18th double-double of the season with 15 points, 15 boards, seven assists and a pair of steals. Love cleaned the glass early, snagging eight of his boards in the first quarter, and did the dirty work late, grabbing four key rebounds in the fourth, including a pair of offensive boards on the same possession to preserve Cleveland’s double-digit lead.
The ultimate blue-collar Cavalier, Tristan Thompson, also doubled-up in Sunday’s win – finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
J.R. Smith – who came into the contest having gone 18-for-30 from three-point range over the previous three games, cooled down a bit – finishing with 14 points, going 5-for-18 overall, 4-of-12 from beyond the arc.
The Cavaliers needed their starters to carry the weight on Sunday evening, as the bench struggled to find any rhythm – shooting a combined 5-for-19 from the floor for just 11 total points.
The red-hot Wine and Gold, which came to the City of Brotherly Love averaging 118.0 points and shooting 51 percent from the floor in the four games since the calendar flipped to 2016, shot only 39 percent from the floor and were out-rebounded and outscored in the paint took advantage of 19 Sixers miscues – converting them into 29 points in the victory.
Turning Point ---The Cavaliers couldn’t seem to shake the Sixers all night and things got really dicey when Ish Smith drained a three-pointer with 8:22 remaining to reduce Cleveland’s lead to a deuce, 81-79.
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View photos from Philly.
LBJ goes reverse on the slam.
Watch final game highlights.
But less than a minute later, LeBron checked into the game for Matthew Dellavedova – and the King was ready to “raise the roof” – his retro celebration of choice on the recent road trip – when he did.
Starting with a step-back 22-footer, Cleveland’s 11-time All-Star would proceed to score 12 of the Wine and Gold’s next 14 points as the Sixers seemed to stand in awe – going scoreless over that five-minute span and watching the Wine and Gold pull comfortably away for the first time all night.
By the Numbers – 0 … games this season that the Cavaliers have lost on a Sunday, a Monday or a Thursday.
Quotable – Coach David Blatt, on how his squad got past Philly in the fourth quarter …
”Probably our experience – just the fact that we’re a more mature team, have a few more guys that can make some plays in the end. But (the Sixers) played well, to their credit. Brett (Brown) does a heck of a job and his guys play hard all the time. They’re not going to make it easy for you.”
Up Next – After rumbling through the first three games of their longest road trip of the season, the Cavaliers will face some much stiffer resistance on the second leg of the junket – traveling to the Lone Star State for a trio of tough matchups. On Tuesday night, it’s their first matchup of the season against Dallas, who they thumped by 33 points in their visit to the American Airlines Center last March. From there, they travel south to San Antonio for a nationally-televised matchup with the heavyweight Spurs – another squad they topped in Texas, with Kyrie Irving exploding for 57 points in an overtime thriller. The roadie wraps up on Friday night in Houston, who handed Cleveland an overtime defeat to sweep the season series. When the Wine and Gold return to Cleveland, their first contest will be a rematch with the Warriors one week from Tuesday at The Q.